Date of Award

Winter 12-20-2025

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department/Major

Biology

First Advisor

Wynette Mockler

Second Advisor

Ruby Nguyen

Third Advisor

Minga Vargas

Keywords

Community Health Needs Assessment, chronic disease prevention, rural health, health disparities, South Dakota, population health

Subject Categories

Community Health and Preventive Medicine

Abstract

Community health needs assessments (CHNAs) are vital tools for identifying population health priorities through monitoring chronic diseases and conditions; however, their effectiveness in preventing chronic diseases remains debated. This comparative study examines CHNAs from sixteen South Dakota hospitals across Avera, Sanford, Monument Health, and independent systems to evaluate their role in preventing chronic diseases. Analysis reveals significant challenges, including biased data sampling, limited community engagement, small survey samples, and inconsistent implementation strategies. While CHNAs effectively identify mental health, cancer, and obesity as the top community concerns alongside several other diseases like diabetes and kidney disease, most reports lack specific timelines for interventions and heavily rely on external partners to address social determinants of health. Only 31% of the analyzed reports included formal implementation timelines, raising concerns about accountability and the actual community impact. The study shows that incomplete reports and methodological inconsistencies can worsen health disparities, especially in rural and medically underserved populations. Recommendations to address these issues include strengthening IRS oversight, standardizing data-collection methods, adopting electronic health records, and implementing equity-focused frameworks with enforceable timeframes and measurable outcomes. Recognizing and overcoming these barriers is essential to improving CHNA effectiveness in preventing chronic diseases in rural communities like South Dakota. KEYWORDS: Community Health Needs Assessment, chronic disease prevention, rural health, health disparities, South Dakota, population

Comments

There is an appendix at the very end of the thesis paper alongside

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